Dig team hot on trail of Ice Age evidence
Amateur archaeologists are beginning to unearth a landscape that has remained untouched for more than 14,000 years.
A team of around 20 volunteers, including members of Farndon Archaeology Research Investigations, are exploring a field near the A46 Farndon roundabout.
The project was launched in July last year after receiving a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The team is building a picture of what life was like in the area during the Ice Age.
It has dug four test pits, one of which has reached Ice Age soil.
The pits have produced around 50 pieces of flint that would have been used as tools for basic tasks such as skinning animals.
Among the finds was a piece of flint shaped and moulded into a three-sided blade.
The team has also found evidence to suggest that a waterway ran through the middle of the field.
Mr John Miller, secretary of FARI, said: “All the work so far has been a build-up to this dig. We want to be looked upon as being as important as Newark Castle or the civil war artefacts.”
The team is working with experts from Oxford University. Mr Miller said they wanted their research to still be used in 50 to 100 years time.
“We believe this site is of international importance because it gives us clues about life towards the end of the last Ice Age,” he said.
“Herds of animals liked the environment here and humans, who followed the herds, were travelling up towards Derbyshire.
“They needed the flint to work here and we have got a lot of flint.”
The team originally carried out field-walks to survey the site and identified a 30ft by 30ft area containing clusters of flint pieces.
They have since drilled boreholes to give themselves an idea of what they might find. They are planning to dig up to ten pits.
The team will be carrying out digs every Sunday and Monday until July 21 and 22.
They will hold family fun days every Sunday where people can find out about the project, hold some of the team’s finds and dig for their own artefacts in a sandpit.